Pittsburgh Steelers Bye Week: Tomlin Tuesday

Since the Steelers are officially on their bye week there is no usual Mike Tomlin press conference scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. But that doesn’t mean that Tomlin Tuesday takes a week off. Conveniently, the Steelers just wrapped up a much-needed victory over the Tennessee Titans on Monday Night Football so let’s take a moment to go over Tomlin’s post-game comments for this week’s edition of Tomlin Tuesday.

Mike Tomlin acknowledged the importance of getting an AFC road win, particularly after being down by 11 points at one point during the game. There were some negatives involving penalties that negated returns on special teams and some of the old red-zone inefficiencies crept up again but in the end, the Steelers made the plays necessary to secure the victory for the game going into the bye week.

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Tomlin wouldn’t speculate on what players would be able to be returning from injury after the bye but did not note any new injuries stemming from Monday night’s win. You’d have to think the Steelers are optimistic about the possibilities of returns for Troy Polamalu, Ryan Shazier, Shamarko Thomas, and Steve McLendon from after the bye week. There is also the possibility that Ike Taylor could be returning soon, as he’s been practicing in a limited capacity for a few weeks now.

Tomlin was asked to discuss the performance of Le’Veon Bell and his 200+ rushing yards against the Titans.

"“I am not going to say anything about Le’Veon that I hadn’t said before. He is a good, young player. He wants to be a central reason why we are successful. He can do it in the running game. He can do it in the passing game. Tonight it was more of the running game. Our guys up front did a heck of a job getting hats on hats and blocking the looks. Those weren’t easy looks. They got aggressive down the stretch and it was a bunch of people in the box and he was still having an opportunity to get on a safety. He is going to get a lot of recognition, and I think a lot of recognition is deserved for everyone.” – Mike Tomlin"

He answered a question relating to what it might say about the Steelers to have a 500+ yard passer at one week and a 200+ yard rusher another.

"“We’ve been very upfront that we want to be a very balanced group. We want to be a group that’s capable of stepping in the stadium and throwing with anybody in the NFL. We want to be a group that is capable of stepping in a running with anybody in the NFL. I think we are rounding into form in that regard. And then we can just do what the game presents to us. I think that is a recipe for a real long-term success. We still have to get better in the red area. We kicked two field goals and threw an interception in the first half. That put us in the situation that we were in.” – Mike Tomlin"

Tomlin also explained what happened to the defense on the 80-yard touchdown allowed to Nate Washington at the end of the first half that ate into the Steelers early 10-0 lead.

"“They dialed up a double move and got us. They protected it, they ran a good route and he executed a throw. At the same time we are talking about 80 yards away from pay dirt. It’s situational football. There’s 40 seconds left to go in the half. That’s unacceptable. We have to be better than that. I tip my cap to those guys. It was a nice call. It was great execution. But we have to be better than that.” – Mike Tomlin"

It wasn’t already vacation time for the Steelers with the start of the bye week as Tuesday was used for not only team meetings, but the team also parted ways with running back LeGarrette Blount after he left the field early during the game on Monday night, presumably upset about his lack of playing time.

The Steelers then promoted Josh Harris from the practice squad to replace Blount’s spot on the 53-man roster. Harris was an undrafted free agent out of Wake Forest in the 2014 NFL Draft.

The team will now rest and rehab for the next week until the 4-6 New Orleans Saints come to town on November 30^th. Hopefully the Steelers won’t overeat on Thanksgiving and can keep their winning ways afloat. Obviously.

Here we go Steelers! Here we go!